Normally it is all too easy to be dismissive of the Europa League. Even the teams taking part in the competition often seem underwhelmed by European football's alleged allure. The bigger teams make no secret of the fact that they would rather be in the glitzier of Uefa's two competitions, while smaller clubs often have to scale down their continental ambitions after the turn of the year to concentrate on more pressing matters at home. Then there's the faff, unloved by anyone, of playing on a Thursday and a Sunday, the unnecessary and unproductive experiment of using two extra referee's assistants and, worst of all in many ways, the parachuting in of Champions League rejects at the knockout stage that robs the competition of any credibility it might have had as a pan-European tournament for higher-achieving mid-table clubs that do not necessarily aspire to the more elite competition.

Happily, none of that will be worrying Stoke City this week. The Potters travel to Ukraine to face Dynamo Kiev in their first group stage fixture, sitting an impressive fifth in the Premier League table after spending more money in the transfer window than any non-top-four club with the exception of Liverpool. It is fair to say that not as much was expected of Tony Pulis's side this season than Kenny Dalglish's yet, albeit slightly controversially, Liverpool were defeated at the Britannia Stadium at the weekend. Stoke remain unbeaten, and most weeks would be fancied to take at least something from Sunday's league fixture at Sunderland, except they are about to find out how much a long trip to Kiev and a demanding game in a hostile atmosphere on a Thursday night is about to take out of them.

If there is any justice in the world it will be relatively little, for the club have bought players with the upcoming European adventure in mind, and if there is one word that typifies most Stoke signings these days it is robust. Tall would have come a close second, even before the arrival of Peter Crouch, but robust is the word that springs to mind when opposing managers talk of the sheer difficulty of going to the Britannia Stadium and coming away with a satisfactory result.

Bolton Wanderers are no longer robust, indeed Owen Coyle will be under real pressure if an alarming slump in form continues against Norwich City at the weekend. An alarming slump that started, of course, with the unexpected 5-0 demolition Stoke handed out in the FA Cup semi-final. Blackburn Rovers, so feisty under Mark Hughes, have turned into doormats under the new regime and are already bottom of the table. Everton now resemble dogs of war that cannot remember their last square meal while Sunderland, if they could ever be considered one of the northern strongholds, are already into another crisis after just four games. Newcastle United and Wigan Athletic in their present incarnations are never going to strike anyone as robust, so that just leaves Stoke, flying the flag in Europe for a certain kind of northern grit and stubbornness, even if their ranks now include the permacrocked Jonathan Woodgate.

The former England international missed the game against Liverpool, though after starting all three of Stoke's previous league games Woodgate has already played more Premier League minutes than he managed last season at Spurs. Pulis is probably not expecting him to play every game anyway. As with Matthew Upson, another shrewd defensive signing over summer, it is the experience that counts. Stoke already have capable defenders in Ryan Shawcross and Robert Huth, but Pulis feels that if you are aiming to play at the top level it makes sense to bring in players who have done it before.

Stoke's league position last season was actually the lowest of their three years since promotion, and Pulis identified defensive uncertainty as one of the reasons. "Sometimes last season I felt we lacked a little bit of experience," the Stoke manager said. "Upson and Woodgate have got that, and I think one of the reasons we've started so well is because we've had that coolness and quality at the back."

With Crouch joining Kenwyne Jones to provide the sharp point of the attack, Stoke are planting a flag in the ground for old-fashioned English football. Not everybody has to be like Barcelona, after all. Stoke are not going to play tippy-tappy possession football for 90 minutes, they are not going to bemuse opponents with intricate passing and inventive movement, and they are not going to play their corners short so as to keep the ball on the ground. They are going to encourage their wide players to cross at every opportunity and see how well opponents manage against the aerial threat of Jones and Crouch.

They are also going to play crosses into the box from corners, free kicks and even throw-ins, and where possible bring up tall defenders such as Huth to give opponents something extra to think about. Perhaps this is a more basic form of football than that currently being favoured by Barcelona and even the two Manchester teams, but it has served Stoke very well these past few seasons and it is surprising how few of the leading Premier League sides have managed to pass them to death or slice them open, especially in games at the Britannia.

The outlandish theory that Stoke are one of the few English sides who could give Barcelona something to worry about is unlikely to be put to the test this season. It would require the European champions to finish third in their group and drop down into the Europa knockout stage (and for Stoke to still be alive in the competition by then), and despite Milan's late equaliser at Camp Nou that hardly seems a realistic scenario.

In all probability Barcelona would pass Stoke to pieces anyway – if they can do it to Manchester United they are likely to be able to make any defenders look like statues – but Stoke do not have to worry about that yet, and maybe not for a long time. For now the technical ability and ball retention of the likes of Dynamo Kiev and Besiktas is the challenge they must meet, and while Stoke could be about to come unstuck by a level of cleverness not regularly seen at home, they could also prosper if they can impose their size, physicality and all-round robustness on opponents.

Many who enjoy the way Barcelona play but do not wish to see all elements of contact and physicality eliminated from the game will be secretly hoping Stoke go a long way. They are as truly representative of the mid-band of Premier League football as Fulham were two years ago. They may not go quite as far, but what follows could be both interesting and entertaining. And that's not something it is always possible to say about the Europa League.